A $300 million settlement that will reduce industrial flare pollution at two Louisiana chemical plants strengthens arguments that the federal standards governing such flares need to be overhauled, according to an environmental attorney.
The recent settlement announced by the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency will cut air pollution by more than 5,600 tons annually at petrochemical facilities in Texas and the Louisiana communities of Hahnville and Plaquemine.
Dow Chemical Co. and two of its subsidiaries agreed to the settlement, which was filed in the Eastern District of Louisiana. A federal complaint alleged that the companies had “oversteamed” their flares, which are devices that destroy pollutants in waste gases vented by the plants. The result was excess pollution spewing from the facilities, the complaint alleged.
Adam Kron, a senior attorney with the Environmental Integrity Project (EIP), said the Dow settlement has no direct impact on one of the EIP’s lawsuits filed in Washington, D.C. That litigation calls on the EPA to upgrade its flare standards for all industrial facilities, alleging that flares under current regulations can operate at only 90 percent efficiency or lower – compared to an achievable goal of 98 percent, according to Kron.
“The Dow consent decree … clearly demonstrates why it is necessary for EPA to review and revise the outdated general flare standards,” he told the Louisiana Record. “That is, the Dow case serves as additional proof that there’s a problem that needs to be addressed – specifically that the general standards don’t address steam-assisted or air-assisted flares – and that the EPA knows about it.”
The issue of “oversteaming” industrial flares is one of the issues Kron’s EPA lawsuit seeks to resolve through updated environmental rules on petrochemical companies, including those that operate in Louisiana.
“As currently written, they don’t look at the net heating value of the flare’s combustion zone and therefore don’t account for the over-injection of steam or air,” he said.
Only 26 industrial flares are covered by the Dow settlement, according to Kron.
“Dow’s facilities are basically a miniature representation of why EPA should update the general flare standards in one fell swoop rather than going by each source category one by one over the course of many years,” he said.
The companies covered by the settlement will spend $294 million to install and operate new technology to monitor air pollution in order to cut flare pollution, the U.S. Justice Department reports. Dow has also agreed to pay a $3 million civil penalty, some of which will fund environmental projects in Louisiana.